It's called the "21 card trick" and it seems that many laypeople know it, regardless of their interest in magic. It is just one of those things that when people say to you, probably during a performance, "I know a trick," this is what they'll show you.

A person lays down three rows of seven cards, face up. Another picks one card, in their mind and points to the row with the card. All the cards are picked up, with the selected row always picked up second, and laid down again in three rows of seven. This is repeated two more times. After the last time, when the person points to the row with the card, it is always in the center of the seven. Oh, I should say when the cards are set down, they are always set down three across, and then the next three, and so on, but when they are picked up they are picked up by their rows of seven. Anyway it is a simple mathematical trick, in that anyone can do it if they follow the instructions. Their is nothing secret about the trick at all.

Lay down in this order:

1 2 3
4 5 6
7 8 9
10 11 12
13 14 15
16 17 18
19 20 21

Pick up in this order:

1 8 15
2 9 16
3 10 17
4 11 18
5 12 19
6 13 20
7 14 21

...Assuming that the row they select is in the middle.

God, I hope this is right.

Yes, I know what you are thinking...what the h** is he doing? I definately have too much time on my hands.

Oh, Bill Malone has a killer routine for the 21 card trick on his OTL, Vol. 5.

when i first started learning card magic, i was performing a couple of tricks for a friend of mine, and he actually did that trick for me!!! i remember thinking how lame it was and that it was so obviously just a math principal. i wish i knew about this back then... i would have had some wise-[edited] response and saved him the trouble.. hehe

I know a similar one that involves 27 cards. You have 3 rows of 9. A spectator chooses a card and a number between 1 and 27. The rows are dealt and collected 3 times each time with the spectator indicating which rows his/her card is in. After that, the spectators card is in the position of the number chosen.

It was a joke. There was not any sarcasm. If we magicians cannot find humor in the 3 rows of seven cards trick, than we are hopeless. And, who knows, if anyone could make it into a funny routine, Malone could.

Another one Lay people seem to know is the Slap the cards out of your hand I dont remeber what it is called But I always get a spectator saying do you know the trick where the magician slaps the cards out of your hands and the last card in there hand is there Card.I always Say yes Thats why I dont perform it! I for got what this is trickis called Does anybody know?Another Slieght in this effect is called the Glide I think.BUt if anyone remebers the name Of this crapy tirck plese post thanks.

"do you know the 52 card pickup" is a classic, and i actualy fell for it once

and someone slaped my invisible deck out of my hands once,,,,NOT GOOD

Its quit easy to put it back together I actually make my own Invisible decks All you have to remember is the simple concept of 13! 7+6 5+8 and so on !I hope that didnt reveal anything Im sure it didnt cause if you dont have the trick I dont think it would make much of any sence!

It was a joke. There was not any sarcasm. If we magicians cannot find humor in the 3 rows of seven cards trick, than we are hopeless. And, who knows, if anyone could make it into a funny routine, Malone could.

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